Birth Name : Jacqueline Marie Evancho
Born : April 9, 2000 (age 13)
Origin : Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres : Classical crossover
Occupations : Singer
Personal Life
Jacqueline Marie Evancho born April 9, 2000 is an American classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age and, since 2009, has issued five albums, including a platinum and gold album and three Billboard 200 top 10 debuts.
Between 2008 and 2010, Evancho entered several talent competitions; made singing appearances, mostly in Pennsylvania (including singing the U.S. national anthem at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game); issued an independent album, Prelude to a Dream; and attracted interest on YouTube. Evancho impressed composers Tim Janis and David Foster, each of whom included her in his concerts beginning in 2009. Later in 2010, at the age of ten, she gained wider popularity with her performances in the fifth season of the America's Got Talent competition, finishing in second place.
With the 2010 holiday release of her O Holy Night EP, Evancho became the best-selling debut artist of 2010, the youngest top-10 debut artist in U.S. history and the youngest solo artist ever to go platinum. She first performed in front of U.S. President Barack Obama at the 2010 National Christmas Tree lighting in Washington, D.C. In June 2011, her first full-length major-label album, Dream With Me, produced by David Foster, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and she became the youngest top-5 debut artist in UK history. Billboard ranked Evancho the top Classical Albums Artist for 2011. Evancho released another studio album, Heavenly Christmas, in November 2011. The same month, she became the youngest person ever to give a solo concert at Lincoln Center in New York City as part of her Dream With Me Tour. She has made two solo Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) specials for the television series Great Performances.
Evancho is the ambassador for Mission: Humane, a U.S. Humane Society program that encourages children to help protect animals. A national cotillion organization listed her as one of the "ten best-mannered people of 2011". In 2012 to 2014, she has been touring the U.S., performing songs from her fourth full-length album, Songs from the Silver Screen, released in October 2012, which was Evancho's third top-ten album debut. Other 2013 appearances included Carnegie Hall and the LDS Conference Center. Evancho appeared in the 2013 Robert Redford film The Company You Keep, has modelled for Guess Kids clothing, among others, and has appeared on behalf of such charities as One Drop Foundation.
Evancho had some early theatre experience performing in High School Musical with Pittsburgh Musical Theater in 2007 and musical theatre versions of A Christmas Carol and Little Red Riding Hood, in which she played the title role in 2009. She also appeared briefly as an extra in the 2010 film She's Out of My League. Her first featured television appearance was in the 2011 episode "Back To Max" from the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place where she sang "America the Beautiful" to work off school detention.
Evancho appears in the feature film The Company You Keep, a political thriller that premiered at film festivals in 2012. The film played in foreign markets and in the U.S. beginning on April 5, 2013. Evancho played Isabel, the eleven-year-old daughter of a widowed attorney turned fugitive, Jim Grant, played by Robert Redford, who also directed the film. When Grant's true identity as a former Weather Underground militant is uncovered, he is pursued across the U.S. by the FBI and by an ambitious journalist (Shia LaBeouf). To be reunited with Isabel, Grant must clear his name. Jon Weisman wrote that Evancho "showed she's more than a singing prodigy with her earnest sweetness as the daughter of Robert Redford's character". Redford cast Evancho only days before filming began. Evancho said in 2012: "I don't think I want to act full time. I think I might like to do something with a Disney special or make a movie once in a while that would give me enough time to sing and record, but that's about it."
Evancho modelled for the GUESS Kids fall 2012 advertising campaign, and she occasionally has appeared in other product advertisements.